Free Republic

The U.S. Treasury is struggling with how to handle any political or Islamic ramifications as Persian Gulf sovereign wealth funds look to make substantial investments in capital-poor American banks and securities firms. The crisis in mortgage-backed securities has created a need for new capital to enter financial markets after major financial institutions such as Bear Stearns and Carlyle Capital Corp. failed over the weekend. The crisis is an opportunity for sovereign wealth funds that have prospered as the price of oil has soared over $110 a barrel. WND previously reported sovereign wealth funds in six Persian Gulf countries, including Kuwait,...

What happens when you combine a collapsing dollar, America's addiction to oil, a slumping commercial real estate market, tight credit markets, and hopes for revitalization of downtown Los Angeles? You get a situation where the royal family of Dubai plays a major role in shaping the future of Los Angeles. News item: "Armed with $100 million from Dubai and a refined design plan, officials Monday said construction will finally begin next month on the Frank Gehry-designed residential and shopping plaza along Grand Avenue that is considered a linchpin to downtown L.A.'s revitalization." More, from the L.A. Times: "The announcement comes...

Sen. John McCain and his staff have been adamant for days that his upcoming overseas trip to Britain, France and Israel is not political. /snip ...Apparently, though, there will still be room for fundraising. McCain's campaign has sent out an invitation for a March 20 luncheon at Spencer House -- the neo-classical home built for an ancestor of Diana, the late Princess of Wales -- "by kind permission of Lord Rothschild OM GBE and the Hon. Nathaniel Rothschild." The price to attend is $1000 to $2,300. And the dress code for the event? "Lounge suits" -- British for business...

Citigroup, the financial giant that is one of the nation's largest banks and one of New York City's largest private-sector employers, is facing more trouble, with an analyst at Merrill Lynch forecasting an $18 billion write-down in the first quarter for Citi on top of the $18 billion in write-downs the company has already announced.

Mideast sovereign wealth funds may fail to save troubled U.S. banking giant Citigroup Inc. unless more cash is pumped into the lender, the head of a $13 billion Dubai-owned investment firm said Tuesday. Sameer Al Ansari, Chief Executive of Dubai International Capital told delegates at a private equity conference that it will take more than the combined efforts of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the Kuwait Investment Authority and Saudi investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal to save the bank. "It's going to take more than that to rescue Citi," Ansari said. He added that more write downs are expected and...

President Bush said Thursday that he would probably accept foreign donations to build his presidential library in Dallas and would consider keeping the donors’ names confidential if they do not want to be identified. The comments, at a White House news conference, were the first time Mr. Bush had talked in any detail about his plans for the library, which will be at Southern Methodist University, the alma mater of First Lady Laura Bush. But his detail was scant. “We just announced the deal,” he said, “and I, frankly, have been focused elsewhere, like on gasoline prices and, you know,...

A U.S. congressman is asking Georgetown University about its academic scrutiny of Saudi Arabia and its use of $20 million donated by a Saudi prince in 2005. U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) wrote to Georgetown President John DeGioia Thursday, saying he was concerned about how the money was being spent at the university's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. Of particular concern, Wolf said, was the university's role in training current and prospective U.S. foreign service personnel. "The Saudi government continues to permit textbooks to contain inflammatory language about other religions," Wolf wrote. "Restrictions on civil society and political activists continue to...

  The Wall Street “Sheikh-Up”   By Jonathan SchanzerFrontPageMagazine.com | Friday, February 01, 2008 The stock market is undergoing a dizzying correction. The subprime mortgage mess has forced credit markets to dry up and has hammered U.S. securities. Fears of recession recently sparked one of the worst stock sell-offs in years. But the worst may be yet to come. While Americans are selling their positions in U.S. companies, Middle Easterners flush with petrodollars are aggressively gobbling up these stocks at fire sale prices. Moreover, as American financial institutions report the losses that forced them to deplete their cash reserves,...

Six gulf states control sovereign wealth fund assets of some $1.7 trillion. Here are the men who manage these funds The men who manage the so-called sovereign wealth funds of the Persian Gulf for their governments are quickly becoming some of the world's most powerful money managers. They are using billions from Persian Gulf oil revenues to change the face of global finance by buying big chunks of blue chip companies, partnering with private equity firms to do buyouts, and increasingly snapping up companies on their own. As the credit crisis deepens, investment banks and buyout firms are stepping back...

Petrodollar rich foreign governments buy their way into US board rooms - click the link to watch the video

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is poised once again to save Citigroup Inc., but this time he won't do it alone. The Saudi prince will be joined by other investors including China Development Bank, people familiar with the situation said...... As David Enrich and Robin Sidel report, it isn't clear how much Prince Alwaleed will invest this time; the Chinese entity is expected to invest roughly $2 billion, one person said. Citi is hoping for $8 billion to $10 billion from investors, and will possibly unveil the investments tomorrow......

Dubai is investing $600m in one of the poorest counties in the US to set up a manufacturing and distribution complex that would serve as a major logistical hub for North America. The long-term aim, according to people familiar with the deal, is to take advantage of a new generation of larger merchant ships passing from Asia through the soon to be widened Panama Canal and docking at ports such as Charleston and Savannah, seen as future primary gateways to the US. The project is being handled by Jafza, a unit of the government-owned Dubai World group, which has bought...

Citigroup is putting the final touches to its second big capital-raising effort in as many months, seeking up to $14bn from Chinese, Kuwaiti and public market investors.Under the proposal being discussed, the bulk of the money – roughly $9bn – would be most likely to come from China, people familiar with the negotiations say. The Kuwait Investment Authority would contribute about $1bn, while $2bn to $4bn would be raised through a public placement of shares. The formula is still being adjusted and there could be last-minute changes, the people involved say. It is also possible other investors will participate.The deal...

SHANGHAI (AFP) — Fresh from a five-billion-dollar investment in Morgan Stanley, China's cashed-up government is set to go shopping for more bargains as it takes advantage of the financial turmoil in the United States. China's sovereign wealth fund created global headlines on Wednesday when it seized on Morgan Stanley's credit problems and grabbed a 9.9-percent stake in one of Wall Street's oldest and most storied investment firms. It was the second high-profile foray in the United States by the newly created China Investment Corporation, Beijing's 200-billion-dollar behemoth whose orders are to cruise global markets in search of sweet investment deals....

Morgan Stanley bailed out by Beijing after $9bn write-off Tom Bawden in New York Morgan Stanley became the latest bank to announce a bailout from a foreign government as the Wall Street firm reported the first quarterly loss in its 73-year history yesterday after taking writedowns of $9.4 billion (£4.7 billion) on mortgage-related investments. The writedowns, which took Morgan Stanley to a $3.56 billion fourth-quarter loss, were so severe that the bank was forced to agree a $5 billion cash injection from the Chinese Government to prop up its capital base. The Beijing Government's China Investment Corporation (CIC) will inject...

NEW YORK: Morgan Stanley posted its first quarterly loss ever Wednesday after taking an additional $5.7 billion write-down related to subprime mortgages. The investment bank also said it would sell a $5 billion stake to China Investment Corp., a sovereign wealth fund, to shore up its capital. The sale, which would give the Chinese government a stake of about 9.9 percent in one of Wall Street's biggest investment banks, is the latest example of a foreign investor aiding a Western financial firm after the housing meltdown. Morgan Stanley's fourth-quarter loss of $3.59 billion, or $3.61 a share, was a sharp...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Investment bank Morgan Stanley said Wednesday it sold a portion of itself to China Investment Corp., an investment arm of the Chinese government, for $5 billion to raise capital after taking $9.4 billion in writedowns on mortgage-related investments. Morgan Stanley said the investment will help bolster its capital position and allow it to continue growing its Chinese operations. China Investment will receive equity units that convert into as much as 9.9 percent of Morgan Stanley common stock. The equity units carry a fixed annual payment of 9 percent before converting to shares of common stock Aug....

New York Times Set To Nuke Hillary? Drudge has this below up with no link. But pay attention to the reporter's name: NYT Plans Sunday Exclusive on Questionable Clinton Library donors... Reporter Don Van Natta... Developing... He's a serious award-winning investigative journalist ... and co-author with Jeff Gerth of Her Way: link: Prosecutors later came to believe that Hillary had padded her bills; she "wasn't guilty of [knowingly] facilitating nefarious transactions -- she was guilty of doing less work than she took credit for," Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr. explain in their 2007 biography, Her Way. Hillary...

Bill Clinton's presidential library raised more than 10 percent of the cost of its $165 million facility from foreign sources, with the most generous overseas donation coming from Saudi Arabia, according to interviews yesterday. The royal family of Saudi Arabia gave the Clinton facility in Little Rock about $10 million, roughly the same amount it gave toward the presidential library of George H.W. Bush, according to people directly familiar with the contributions. The presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has for months faced questions about the source of the money for her husband's presidential library. During a September...

Kennywood Park, the summertime mecca for generations of Pittsburghers in search of thrill rides, arcade games, old-fashioned family fun and gooey cheese fries, was sold yesterday to a Spanish company. Kennywood Entertainment, a West Mifflin-based enterprise since 1898, will be taken over by Parques Reunidos of Madrid, which plans to leave day-to-day operation of the park in local hands. The descendants of F.W. Henninger and A.S. McSwigan, who acquired the park from Pittsburgh Railway Co. in 1906, had been approached by amusement companies in the past about selling the local icon, but have refused. When Premiere Parks, an Oklahoma-based chain,...